Humboldt's History of New Spain.

"The present population of Mexico is estimated at 135 to 140,000 individuals ----It probably consists of

3,500 white Europeans.

65,000 white Creoles.

33,000 Indigenous, [copper-coloured]

26,500 Mestizoes, mixture of Whites and Indians.

10,000 Mulattoes.

137,000 inhabitants.

"There are, consequently, in Mexico, 69,500 men of colour, and 67,500 whites; but a great number of the Mestizoes, are almost as white as the Europeans and Spanish Creoles!

"In the twenty-three male convents which the capital contains, there are nearly 1200 individuals, of whom 580 are priests and choristers.

In the fifteen female convents, there are 2100 individuals, of whom nearly 900 are professed religieuses."

"Among the colonies subject to the king of Spain, Mexico occupies, at present, the first rank, both on account of its territorial wealth, and on account of its favourable position for commerce with Europe and Asia.

We speak here merely of the political value of the country, considering it in its actual state of civilization, which is very superiour to that of the other Spanish possessions.

Many branches of agriculture have undoubtedly attained a higher degree of perfection in the province of Caraccas than in New-Spain.

The fewer mines a colony has, the more the industry of the inhabitants is turned towards the productions of the vegetable kingdom.

The fertility of the soil is greater in the provinces of Cumana, of New Barcelona, and Venezuela; and it is greater on the banks of the Lower Orinoco, and in the northern part of New Granada, than in the kingdom of Mexico, of which several regions are barren, destitute of water, and incapable of vegetation.

But on considering the greatness of the population of Mexico, the number of considerable cities in the proximity of one another; the enormous value of the metallick produce and its influence on the commerce of Europe and Asia; in short, on examining the imperfect state of cultivation observable in the rest of Spanish America, we are tempted to justify the preference which the court of Madrid has long manifested for Mexico, above its other colonies."